‘Democracy Now!’: Security Costs at the Republican National Convention

Posted on Aug 27, 2012

Hosting the Republican National Convention doesn’t come cheap. Just ask Tampa, Fla. In preparation for this week’s gathering, the city’s police department received roughly $50 million from Congress to purchase, among other things, high-tech surveillance equipment and armored vehicles.

In addition to the financial cost, there’s also the convenience expense. As in, the southern half of downtown has been completely cut off and is inaccessible.

With Day One of the convention effectively canceled because of concerns over Tropical Storm Isaac,” “Democracy Now!” took a look at security measures and their costs on its Monday program.

“What’s interesting is that you can’t get through downtown Tampa within blocks and blocks of the Tampa Convention Center, so if you’re trying to drive through, if you’ve got business down in that part of town, you have no access to it,” Tampa radio host Rob Lorei told the show’s Amy Goodman. “And it seems, in some ways, that this is overkill, that they are preparing for something that—a need that didn’t arise.”

Lorei added: “There’s probably—and I don’t know what the number are, but there’s probably 10 security personnel for every protester who’s in town.”